


Tin Man

by some1_around



Series: 5+1 Tony Fics [7]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Adorable Hulk, Angst, But mostly fluff, Cute, Don't Get On Hulk's Bad Side, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hulk Loves Tony, M/M, Other, Tony Loves Hulk, You won't like him when he's angry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 21:07:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6024886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/some1_around/pseuds/some1_around
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People tend to think that the only emotion Hulk can feel is anger. They're pretty spectacularly wrong.<br/>Or, five unpleasant emotions Hulk has felt and how Tony helped him through them, and one time Hulk returned the favor for Tony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tin Man

1.

The street was already rubble from the monster of the week, green gloop splattered everywhere. Tony was already standing off to the side, jabbering into the phone in his helmet to the Stark Relief Fund about rebuilding the street as soon as possible. With Tony’s connections, it would be done in a week. Steve was addressing the crowds of scared civilians, deep voice assured and protective, promising them shelter in the nearest hotel until they could go back home. Another thing Tony would be supplying. Clint and Thor were at the other end of the street signing autographs, and Natasha was talking to Coulson about the debrief.

Hulk snorted and kicked at a boulder. Tin Man did everything. Wing Man just gave big talks with big words, and the other Puny God did the same with bigger words. Hulk didn’t like big words. Big words had no meaning. Hulk liked smashing. He didn’t like the big talks or the shiny pictures. Hulk liked Tin Man.

Grumbling, Hulk continued sifting through the derbies, looking for anything big enough to break. He hadn't been the cause of the destruction in this fight, had barely even got to knock the monster around.

Hulk wanted to _smash_.

“Hey, Buddy!”

Hulk glanced over his shoulder, sneered lips uncurling as he saw Tin Man bouncing towards him. Tin Man smiled big, but didn’t talk that way. Around puny Banner Tin Man spoke with big words, but he didn’t with Hulk. And his big words weren’t like Wing Man’s words; they were big with compact meanings. Hulk liked listening to those big words. He liked listening to Tin Man.

“How ‘bout I take you to the nearest junkyard, power up the suit, and we toss a few cars on?” Tin Man asked with a grin, leaning against Hulk’s leg

Hulk huffed and with one giant hand picked up Tin Man, putting the puny human on his shoulders and lumbering down the street.

“Hey!” he heard Birdbrain whine from behind him. “How come Stark gets to ride on Hulk’s shoulders? He never let’s me do that!”

“It’s because I'm his favorite!” Tin Man called back, flashing a bright grin.

Hulk just smirked and huffed his agreement.

2.

Stupid monsters. Stupid puny monsters – they try to hurt Hulk and Hulk’s? Hulk smash stupid puny monsters. Hulk _roars_. No on hurts Hulk’s. No one hurts Tin Man.

Hulk’s shoulders heave and he roars again, a warning to all the dead monsters littered over the ruined street. Stupid fish monsters don’t get to touch Tin Man. He is under Hulk’s protection.

“Hey! Hey, big guy, please, calm down!”

Hulk spins, prepared to roar again in the face of whatever puny human is trying to talk him down, but he comes face to tiny face with his Tin Man.

Tin Man has blood smeared on his forehead. Tin Man’s knees are shaking. Tin Man’s cheek is bruise, his shirt is ripped. Tin Man smiles at Hulk.

“Hey buddy,” he says softer, holding out one hand and rubbing Hulk’s forehead. “Thanks for the help,” he says, keeping his other arm stiff against the side. “You did really good, buddy.”

Hulk scoops Tin Man up, careful of the tiny fragile bones in Tin Man’s non-metal body. He sniffs at Tin Man’s head, smells blood and monsters. He growls. “Stupid fish monsters hurt Tin Man,” he rumbles, straightening up and surveying the street for any more enemies.

Tin Man nodded and pat his arm soothingly. “And you took them all out. Good job,” he praises, smiling at Hulk tiredly. “Thanks a million buddy.”

Tin Man looks tired. Hulk sits down, sniffs Tin Man again. “Tin Man hurt,” Hulk grumbles, one huge finger moving up to delicately stroke Tin Man’s hair. “Tin Man need puny Banner?”

Tony beamed happily up at Hulk, leaning into the touch. “Id like that, big guy, but if you want to stick around for a bit I won’t mind,” he offered.

Hulk smiled softly and gently set Tin Man down and began transferring back into the doctor.

He left a message for puny Banner.

_Tin Man hurt. You help._

3.

Hulk felt… antsy. Shaky. Everything around was so puny and breakable, and he was very much not allowed to smash here. This was a good place, a safe place. Hulk didn’t want to smash this room, but… what else was he to do?

“Hey Bruce, you got a mo – oh, hey Hulk, whatcha doing out?” Tony asked, walking into the room with his eyes on his tablet before he did a double take and gave Hulk an easy smile.

Hulk huffed and shifted slightly between the little couches and tables. “Banner had nightmare,” Hulk informed Tin Man, and he saw Tin Man’s smile wobble. “Banner scared. Hulk not. Hulk come out.”

Tin Man nodded and set his tablet down, moving across the room. “You can sit down, big guy,” he promised, gesturing to the floor. “Reinforced steels. It’d take a lot of smashing to get through that.”

Hulk huffed and eyed the carpeted floor before dropping onto it. The shelves wiggled but they stayed up, and Tin Man laughed. He crossed the rest of the distance and climbed up onto Hulk’s lap. “How about we watch a movie, huh?” he asked. Hulk grumbles a yes, winding one large hand around Tin Man’s torso, grip painfully careful. “Cool,” Tin Man grinned happily, before speaking to the ceiling voice. “J, pull up _My Fair Lady_. Hulk’s gonna love that.”

“Of course, sir,” responded ceiling-voice. Hulk glared at the ceiling, not seeing where the voice came from like usual, but Tin Man laughed again and Hulk looked back to the screen. Pretty ladies were dancing and Hulk liked the colors.

Hulk relaxed a little, settles back. He didn’t so much mind not-smashing when Tin Man was there.

4.

Hulk didn’t like it. Hulk didn’t like it at all. Tin Man’s metal suit was lying on the side of the road – Tin Man was unguarded. That was Hulk’s job now. Keep Tin Man safe. That was always Hulk’s job but today Wing Man told him to. Tin Man needed to be kept safe this time.

“Just a few more wires, green bean,” Tin Man told him, arms deep inside the twisted metal. Hulk didn’t like the robot things. He liked Tin Man’s suit – it kept Tin Man safe and made him happy – but he didn’t like other metal things. Those things were dangerous. “Take out all the bad guys, just like that,” Tin Man was saying, ignoring the way Hulk was batting the metal machines down like flies, even when one landed only a few feet from him. “When the fight’s over, we can go home, get out the industrial popcorn machine, and watch _The King and I_ , okay?”

Hulk huffed his agreement and continued to swat down the little machines that were coming in spades. They were trying to hurt _Tin Man_. Why was everyone always trying to hurt Tin Man.

“I’ll tell you, Jolly Green, I haven't seen that movie in ages,” Tin Man said, twisting wires and bits of jutted out steel, connecting them to his phone with his teeth. “I’m looking forward to it. Deborah Kerr slays.”

Hulk didn’t know what that meant, but Tin Man sounded relaxed. And they were going to watch a movie. Hulk settles into his job, listened to Tin Man ramble, and wasn’t so worried anymore. Tin Man knew what to do.

5.

Wing Man was yelling. Wing Man yelled a lot though, so Hulk ignored it at first, more focused on moving the bigger rocks to the side of the road as Tin Man had asked him to. But when Hulk turned slightly to get a chunk of concrete from the middle of the road, he saw who Wing Man was yelling at.

“You endangered the mission!” Win Man was yelling at a slouched Tin Man. “You put yourself in the way of completely unnecessary harm! If Hawkeye hadn't gotten to you in time, you could be dead right now! You can't go on being this reckless – we’re a team and you need to remember that. This isn’t a game you can win just by smiling prettily, Tony – this is life and death. Iron Man or not, you are still vulnerable. If you keep pulling these stunts I’m going to-”

Wing Man’s rant was interrupted when Tin Man was pulled upwards and placed on the shoulders of a snarling Hulk.

“Wing Man doesn’t yell at Tin Man,” Hulk growled, lowering his head so it was closer to Steve’s, who looked taken aback. “Tin Man did nothing wrong.”

“Hey, big guy, it’s cool,” Tony soothed, a bemused chuckle falling off his lips. “I broke protocol, and Steve’s just bitching about it,” he said as he stroked Hulk’s hair.

Hulk continued to glare at Wing Man and Wing Man’s countenance turned apologetic. “Sorry Tony,” he said, looking up to the genius. “Hulk is right. I didn’t need to yell at you just – don’t do it again, okay? You really scared us.”

Satisfied, Hulk leaned away from Wing Man. “Tin Man stupid sometimes,” he told Wing Man. “Hulk keep him safe.”

Steve smiled. “You do, don’t you?” he asked, not really a question, before walking away.

1+

Hulk ran. Hulk ran fast. Above him, the plane zoomed, but it did not go faster than Hulk. Over trees and rivers and hills Hulk jumped, as fast as he could.

Tin Man was in trouble. Hulk had to save him.

Hulk slowed to follow the plane, twisting his path to follow until he saw it – a smudge of grey in the forest far ahead. In one huge bound, Hulk leaped. Tin Man was there.

The base never stood a chance.

Hulk ripped it apart, broke down walls with his fist and knocked the soldiers out with a roar. These _puny_ people had _his_ Tin Man. Unacceptable.

Hulk smashed through a wall and crushed the human who tried to stab him with a small knife. He didn’t even look at him as he bounded across the room. Tin Man was there. Definitely Tin Man. But Tin Man was hurt.

Hulk ran gentle fingers over the chains keeping Tin Man to the wall, scraping his wrists where he hung, limp and unmoving, a trail of red running down his matted hair and mixing into the cuts on his chest around the nightlight.

“Tin Man,” Hulk rumbled, pulling on the chains with two fingers and easily ripping them from the concrete. Tin Man fell forward, but it was into Hulk’s arms. Tin Man was safe there.

Hulk lumbered out of the ruined building, Tin Man held so gently in his arms, and jumped out of the wreckage, landing with a bump outside the building’s area and in the forest. Tin Man jerked awake in his arms, instantly started to writhe and attempted to push himself from Hulk’s grip.

“Still,” Hulk grunted, flopping down into a seated position. He raised Tin Man so they were eye to eye. Tin Man’s eyes were glossy and wide – he was scared. But not scared of Hulk. Tin Man was never scared of Hulk. “Safe,” Hulk told him, lowering Tin Man to his chest. “Tin Man is safe, safe with Hulk. Hulk will keep you safe,” Hulk promised.

“Y-yeah,” Tin man said after a moment, and he went floppy in Hulk’s arms, cuddled closer to his chest. “You’ll always keep me safe buddy. Thanks.”

Hulk nods and keeps Tony firmly against his chest. He waits until the tears are gone before shifting Tony again. “Tin Man needs Banner,” Hulk tells him, lying Tin Man on the ground softly. Tin Man watches him. “Banner will take care of Tin Man.”

“So do you,” Tin Man says softly. Hulk smiles and rolls his shoulders. Lets Banner back in.

“Tony, oh my god, are you alright?” Bruce asks, scrambling forward, for once not minding his nakedness. The only important thing right now is making sure Tony is okay.

Tony waves him off with a tired smile, but he lets Bruce maneuver them so the genius’ head is in his lap and Bruce can look him over for injuries. “All flesh wounds, maybe a small break in my ankle,” Tony tells him soothingly, running his fingers down Bruce’s calf. “Hulk would’ve changed back right away if something was really wrong.”

Bruce breathes a sigh of relief as his examination of Tony proves the statement true. “Times like these make me so glad Hulk likes you best,” Bruce tell him.

Tony grins tiredly up at him, one hand stroking through the other’s curls. “Yeah,” he agrees. “I like being his favorite too.”


End file.
